According to ABC News, Ukrainian firefighters are working hard to put out two forest fires in the area around the Chernobyl nuclear power station itself. While one of the fires has been localized it seems the other has been a bit harder to control.
This forest surrounding the once operational nuclear power plant is in itself also full of radiation. The fires were according to ABC News within one thousand square miles of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This zone while mostly unpopulated as people were ordered to leave long ago, there are some still lingering.
For those who do not know, back in 1986 there was a disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. You see, because of some mistakes that were made and a design flaw one of the reactors cores became unstable and it caused an explosion. This event is not something we talk about much here in the US but it did happen and even now the location itself is abandoned and people are not allowed to visit for long periods of time because of the radiation.
While tours are available of the location itself, there are areas where people are not allowed as the levels of radiation are too much. As time has passed these radiation levels have dropped but there is no denying there is still radiation present and likely will be for as long as we are around. While radiation levels were above normal in the ‘centre of the fire’ according to Mr. Firsov who happens to be Ukraine’s ecological inspection service chief levels in the capital of Kyiv are within normal levels.
Вогнеборці продовжують боротися з пожежою, яка виникла у Чорнобильській зоні. Ситуація складна. Вогонь поширився на…
Posted by Єгор Фірсов on Sunday, April 5, 2020
The Independent wrote as follows on this topic:
The fires were within the 1,000-square-mile Chernobyl Exclusion Zone established after the 1986 disaster at the plant that sent a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe.
This is largely unpopulated, although about 200 people have remained despite orders to leave.
Fires are relatively common in the forests surrounding the former nuclear plant. Mr. Firsov said the latest blaze was likely caused by people setting fire to nearby grass, which then spread to trees.
He called on the Ukrainian parliament to increase arson fines 100-fold, “otherwise, large-scale fires will continue to happen every fall and spring”.
Fires in this area have been happening for quite some time now off and on and there is no denying that something needs to be done to keep them under control and prevent people from setting dry grass on fire in the early spring if that is in-fact happening. To see these fires for yourself please check out the video below. We can only hope those who are fighting these fires remain safe and can get them under control.